NCAA Announcement | Bracket
Season Stats | Schedule
R-N All-Americans | R-N All-Conference
NEWARK, N.J. (April 19, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team will play in the 'Elite Eight' of the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship for the second time in as many seasons on Friday.
The fifth-ranked and fourth-seeded Scarlet Raiders will take on the fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks at 3 p.m. in Rochester, N.Y. The winner will advance to take on the winner of SUNY New Paltz and Wentworth Institute of Technology Saturday in the National Semifinals.
Here is how the Scarlet Raiders sit from a numbers perspective ahead of the national tournament.
Nationally…as a team…The Raiders rank third nationally in hitting percentage (.338), fourth in winning percentage (.889), seventh in kills per set (12.57), 10th in assists per set (11.54) and 10th in blocks per set (2.33).
Nationally…individually…Senior middle
Cody Chidsey sits fourth in the nation in hitting percentage at .449, senior setter
Kevin McCandless is sixth in assists per set (10.54) and junior middle
Nick Kuti is No. 10 in blocks per set (1.11). Sophomore outside
Corey Pieper is 10th in aces per set (.56). Three Scarlet Raiders are in the top-50 in hitting percentage in Chidsey, Kuti (.351) and junior outside
Jack Fredricks (.351).
Winning Streaks…Rutgers-Newark started the year with an eight-match winning streak, and after its first loss, the Scarlet Raiders ripped off nine in a row. For good measure, R-N added another late-season seven-game win streak to the ledger. The Scarlet Raiders have yet to lose two matches in a row this season, and they clearly hope that trend continues as they are coming off a loss in the CVC title match at Stevenson University.
Against Ranked Foes…The Scarlet Raiders opened the season with a win over then No. 2 Stevens and proceeded to win 5-of-7 matches against ranked teams this year. Three of those five wins were via clean sweep.
Home, Road and Neutral…Rutgers-Newark was 10-1 inside The Golden Dome Arena, 8-2 on the road and 6-0 in neutral site matches.
All-Conference…Four Scarlet Raiders earned All-CVC honors recently – McCandless, Fredricks, Chidsey and senior libero
Quocmy Nguyen. R-N student-athletes held 4-of-9 spots on the all-conference team.
All-American…excuse me, All-Americans…Fredricks and Chidsey were both named second-team American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans on Monday, and McCandless was an honorable mention All-American. A total of 33 student-athletes were recognized from all of Division III and Scarlet Raiders were in nearly 10 percent of those spots.
A Balanced Attack…Rutgers-Newark had five players with 175 or more kills this year – Kuti (177), Chidsey (197), senior opposite
Travis Mintzer (207), Pieper (240) and Fredricks (257). Fredricks (2.79) and Mintzer (2.72) led the Scarlet Raiders in kills per set.
In the CVC…Despite falling in the CVC title match, Rutgers-Newark has put together a remarkable stretch of play in the conference over the last two years. R-N has gone 21-3 in the regular-season and 3-1 in postseason play.
Fans should follow @ScarletRaiders and @RUNVolleyball on twitter all week for updates on the team's trip to Rochester for the NCAA Tournament. Links, pictures, previews and more will be posted and updated throughout.
